


A Change in the Weather

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: rareprompts [18]
Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mainly Rin thinking about his little sister and his best friend, SouRinGou feels, rin pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 14:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4525020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She breaks away from Rin's grasp, changes course abruptly and heads up a different path. She does not look back to see if her brother and Sousuke are following.</p><p>(Her stubbornness, at least, is unchanged; they've learned to resign themselves to their fates.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change in the Weather

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ad_Astra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ad_Astra/gifts).



> For Dani, who asked for SouGou with two parameters:
> 
> 1) Gou's love of muscles begins and ends with Sousuke  
> 2) Rin POV
> 
> This was crying out to be comedy, so I... went the other way because I really don't know how to make my life easy. Also, it turned out to be more Rin thinking about stuff than actual SouGou ;___; but it was really fulfilling writing about them through Rin's eyes. I hope you like it!

It's just small, the way the wind changes direction and dips ever so slightly, brushing Rin's hair from his cheek to the nape of his neck. Barely a whisper in the thin mountain air. They're on the edge of a winding path, grass grown long at their feet; he hears it now, the rustle and the warning. Far below them, beyond the foot of the shrine, the tide is coming in.

He swears quietly. "There's a storm coming."

Sousuke, standing next to him, follows his gaze skywards.

"We'd better go," he says.

He bows his head to the gravestone once more. So does Gou, and Rin, as he does, gives his dad a fistbump in farewell.

He feels it. _Little things._ That tingling damp, heavy on his skin, the way it smells, like something's brewing out at sea. Out of sight. Never quite out of mind. Rin's learned to read the signs, trust that his senses know more than his mind, sometimes.

He shifts his weight, feels a pebble come loose beneath his feet and roll away downhill behind them, _plonk, plonk_ among the stones. At least Gou's wearing sensible shoes today. Not that that's ever stopped her from nearly tripping; he keeps a watchful eye on her still. So, too, he knows, does Sousuke.

She's rummaging through her backpack now, looking for something. As the gust picks up, her footing slips off balance, ever so slightly.

"Oi," says Rin. "Steady - "

Sousuke reaches out a moment before Rin does, catches Gou by her shoulder. She pulls out a small foldable umbrella.

"I've got this…" she says, looking at it doubtfully as she shakes it open.

Rin hears the first drops of rain, pelting the leaves overhead, before he feels them.

"That dinky thing won't help," he says. "C'mon. Let's hustle."

They pick their way back down the uneven gravel, but there's a crack in the sky as the lightning flares, and Gou grits her teeth at the thunderclap that follows. Rin, hand at her elbow, feels her arm tense as she tightens her grip round the handle of her umbrella. She does not jump. She is not afraid; she never was, even as a child.

Rin's hair is sticking to his forehead in wet, messy strands now. He hears Sousuke mutter under his breath as the rain starts to pour down in sheets.

Gou's voice is firm when she speaks. "Onii-chan, Sousuke-kun, we need to find shelter."

She breaks away from Rin's grasp, changes course abruptly and heads up a different path. She does not look back to see if her brother and Sousuke are following.

(Her stubbornness, at least, is unchanged; they've learned to resign themselves to their fates.)

As they reach the battered pavilion of thatched bamboo halfway down the mountain, Gou runs into it with a sigh of relief, Rin and Sousuke at her heels. "Ahhh," she moans, "my shoes are all wet…"

Rin snorts. "Your shoes! What about _us_?"

"Never mind _us_ , we'll dry! But wet shoes and socks are just - _ugh_ \- "

She flops down onto the wooden planking, kicks the sneakers from her feet and pulls off her socks, wrinkling her nose delicately.

"Gross," says Rin.

"Whatever. _You're_ gross."

Rin leans back against a pillar, and grins. "I'm your brother. That's my job."

Sousuke's low laugh is warm, and familiar, though it's deepened, of course, from their childhood, and the years have chiselled it gentler, less reckless. They're not the same any more, the three of them. Maybe that's not a bad thing.

Rin's spent his life chasing new frontiers, after all, and this - it's just small, the way the wind changes -

The way Gou's okay, now, with stretching out her bare feet and wiggling her toes in the open air in front of her big brother's best friend; the way Sousuke follows suit and tells Rin, in all his deadpan seriousness, that he's being an idiot because Gou is right, wet socks _suck_.

"What is this," Rin mutters, " _gang-up-on-Rin_ hour?"

"Only an hour?" says Gou, archly.

Without missing a beat, Sousuke holds up a hand and they high five as Rin rolls his eyes.

They watch the waves rage in the distance, the white foam flying. There was a time, years ago, Rin would've reached out to hold Gou's hand even if she didn't need it; there was a time, perhaps, Sousuke wouldn't have hesitated to put a protective arm round her shoulders.

In this time, Rin crosses his arms and watches Sousuke hold himself back. He knows it isn't because of _proprieties_ or anything. It's not for Rin's sake.

It's for Gou's. She can take care of herself, now; perhaps she always could, and they were so preoccupied with holding her close they never noticed what was right in front of them.

Sousuke takes off his jacket, and wrings the water out of it as the storm passes them by.

 _Little things._ It took their years apart for them to come together again. Rin remembers Gou, staring awkwardly at Sousuke in their teenage years as his athlete's muscles filled out. He sees her, now, turning an appreciative gaze on him and reaching out to touch his arm, telling him that his new regime suits him, his deltoids are looking _great_.

Rin tips his head back, takes his eyes off them for a moment to glance up at the grey sky.

He thinks, it's not that he's letting go of her. She'll choose her own path anyway.

As for Sousuke, well -

It's always taken him a while to separate his heart from the theories in his mind, but Rin _knows_ , knows better than anyone, the depths of Sousuke's love for those he treasures.

There's a change in the weather, and Rin feels it.

He smiles to himself. The sun's breaking through on the horizon.

 


End file.
